Tag: museum

January 11 2017

Underwater Sculpture Museum Includes Spooky Wall, Portal and Vortex

The final phase of artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s monumental project Museo Atlantico, in Lanzarote, Spain is now complete. It was officially inaugurated on the 10th of January 2017 by the President of the island, Pedro San Gines.

Consisting of over 300 works spread over 12 installations, it is the first time Taylor has created large-scale architectural works. The new installations include a spooky 100 ton 30m long wall, an underwater botanical sculpture garden referencing local flora and fauna, and a colossal formation of over 200 life size-human figures in a swirling vortex.

I personally love three of these large scale installations. The first is called Crossing the Rubicon and it consists of 35 figures walking towards an underwater wall. As the artist states, “The wall, which is part industrial, part organic, stretches 30 meters long and 4 meters high and contains a single rectangular doorway at its center. The wall is intended to be a monument to absurdity, a dysfunctional barrier in the middle of a vast fluid, three-dimensional space, which can be bypassed in any direction. It emphasizes that the notions of ownership and territories are irrelevant to the natural world. In times of increasing patriotism and protectionism the wall aims to remind us that we cannot segregate our oceans, air, climate or wildlife as we do our land and possessions. We forget we are all an integral part of a living system at our peril.

“To cross the Rubicon is to pass a point of no return. The work aims to mark 2017 as a pivotal moment, a line in the sand and reminder that our world’s oceans and climate are changing and we need to take urgent action before its too late.”

jason_decaires_taylor_sculpture-07053_jason-decaires-taylor_sculpture

The second installation I really like is the one called Portal. A hybrid animal/human sculpture looks into a large square mirror, which reflects the moving surface of the ocean. The diver becomes a part of the artwork. It’s intended to portray water within water, an interface or looking glass into another world.

The third last one I enjoyed is The Human Gyre, which consists of over 200 life-size figurative works creating a vast circular formation or gyre. “The artistic installation reminds us that we have evolved from marine life, and are all subject to the movements and will of the ocean,” the artist states. “The piece embodies our naked vulnerability to its inherent power, and our fragility in the face of its cycles and immense force. It provides the oxygen we breathe, it regulates our climate and it provides a vital source of nutrition to millions of people.”

Jason deCaires Taylor website

Photography

June 8 2016

Herb Ritts’ Iconic Images of Rock Stars

Often, it was Herb Ritts who took the picture that now comes to mind when you think of your favorite rock star. Who could forget that seductive photo of Madonna or that powerful pose by Tina Turner? In a new exhibition starting June 24, the Chrysler Museum of Art will present Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits. It will feature iconic portraits of the biggest names in music over the last 30 years including David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John, Prince, Madonna, Cher, Janet Jackson and Bruce Springsteen. Ritts took these intimate portraits for prestigious magazines such as Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.

Interesting fact: Herb Ritts didn’t just shoot snapshots with his camera. He was one of the first still photographers who transitioned to directing music videos, like Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” and Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do Without You.”

Sadly, Ritts, who was HIV positive, died of pneumonia in 2002 at the still young age of 50. The touring exhibition is presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in collaboration with the Herb Ritts Foundation. This is a must-see.

Above: Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Madonna, Hollywood, 1986, From the True Blue album cover, Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) David Bowie III, Los Angeles, 1987, Photographed for Rolling Stone Magazine, Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Cher, Los Angeles, 1990, Cover and story for Vanity Fair Magazine, November 1990, issue, Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

Herb Ritts (American, 1952–2002) Tina Turner, Hollywood, 1989, Foreign Affair album promotion, Image © and courtesy of Herb Ritts Foundation

Art & Design

November 12 2015

Inside The Broad, LA’s Newest Contemporary Art Museum

Back in September, I attended the press preview of The Broad, the new contemporary art museum in downtown Los Angeles. It was a pop art lover’s dream! Works by Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Takashi Murakami were all on display.

The show stopper, however, was The Infinity Mirrored Room by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. (See above.) I’m still daydreaming about it. Imagine being able to step into space and be surrounded by an endless array of stars. You walk into a room that’s lined with mirrors and strung with thousands of LED lights. The ground is covered in water, save for a platform you walk on. You have 30 seconds to fully immerse yourself in the experience. I’m sure I was not alone in thinking, “Is this what heaven feels like?”

Dynamically changing LA’s urban landscape, The Broad’s architecture is, in and of itself, a beauty to behold. Design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s (DS+R) concept was “a veil and a vault.” As you walk down the stairs, you can look through large glass windows to see art pieces hung on racks and shelves, it’s the storage area around which the museum was built. (The Broad is showing just 250 of their more than 2,000 works.) This is referred to as the vault. The outermost structure is a lattice-like veil that lets light shine into the building in a beautifully natural way. I was surprised that the third-floor skylights could bring in such perfect indirect, diffused light.

The Broad is named after the billionaire businessman and avid art collector Eli Broad and his wife Edythe. (Yes, that’s Broad of homebuilding company Kaufman & Broad.) Their mission is to make art accessible to everyone, that’s why general admission is free!

Make sure you visit this new art institution in LA. It’ll be well worth your time.